This week I got notified that I've made the Reynvaan mailing list; it's the first new mailing list I've applied for in years, and I'm currently on no others. From the looks of it, and presuming retail prices don't go berserk later, the list doesn't offer me wine at any discount to retail, it just ensures that I get wines I might otherwise have trouble securing. And such was 2013 for this producer--high up on the Speck's Top 100, and #1 and #3 on Seattle Magazines Top 100, plus over 95 pt scores on every wine they make from at least one power critic--that from 2014 on, especially if 2012 turns out to be as good a vintage as everything points to, regular retail as we knew it is going to dry up. The previously unaware are now aware: Reynvaan is the next Cayuse.

How do they compare? Same winemaker, but how close are the wines? I've only had mature Cayuses and young Reynvaans, so I'm not qualified to say. But oh these young Reynvaans. I've never had anything else quite like them. Since tasting the 2008 Unnamed, my head has been hopelessly turned. These wines have an Old Worldliness about them I didn't even know was possible outside of the Northern Rhone, but there's a voluptuous depth those wines rarely have that's heady in the nose and totally thrilling on the palate. The result is captivating, borderline naughty and yet refined--it's Nigella Lawson in a glass.

And the effect on me is most similar to what I remember about my first taste of a young Chave Hermitage. I later learned others felt it too, and that it had been given the name 'animale'.

So I who is completely nonplussed by new world syrah have actually amassed a little collection of Reynvaan syrahs. Picking up a bottle here and two there when I can, I now have around 30 bottles and am actually considering going on a mailing list so I can spend $60+ per bottle on more. To help make up my mind, and to get a yes or no from Bob who couldn't remember our last bottle or why I got so taken with these in the first place, we opened Reynvaan's 2009 In The Rocks last night. Suffice to say, all the things described above happened again in a big way, and this morning Bob is urging me to place the order that two days ago he wanted to avoid. Mostly black fruit but abetted by a little red fruit tang, espresso, fennel, bacon, road work and barnyard floor are all here in a concentrated, highly aromatic way that just made our heads spin. I chose the 09 to open because this vintage for all Washington wine is generally more open than the tannin-driven wines of 08 and 10. Am guessing the aging curve on this particular bottling will be shorter than long, but it's equally possible that there's more infrastructure here than I'm giving it credit for. With this wine, it's easy to be so dazzled by the cleavage that one fails to notice how well dressed it is. Either way, it's okay. I'll just keep trotting these 09's out and going "See? SEE?", and turn to the other vintages later.

In The Rocks is, btw, a co-ferment with viognier. The Contender co-ferments with marsanne and The Unnamed now coferments with Grenache blanc (some earlier bottlings were 100% syrah). There is also Stonessence (best barrels, and currently the most expensive offering at $85 per), In The Hills, and Foothills in the Sun Reserve. Not aware of what the program is on the last two, or why one is called Reserve, but one was introduced in 2011 and the other is new this year--I think.

My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov

Yes, yes, there's a tasting note there: fourth paragraph down. I just put the name in bold so you can't mistake it.

Btw, just got off the phone with an ITB friend who knows Cayuse and Reynvaan very well. He totally got the Nigella Lawson comparison and offered Johnny Depp's pirate character as a representative for the other brand. "More bombastic, with lurking danger and volatility." He loves Cayuse and their wines were his favorite all-time Washington wines--until he tasted Reynvaan.

My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov

Terrific note, Jenise. Once on the mailing list, do you have a choice in which wines and what quantity you order? They don't automatically send a certain number of bottles several times a year do they?

JC (NC) wrote:Terrific note, Jenise. Once on the mailing list, do you have a choice in which wines and what quantity you order? They don't automatically send a certain number of bottles several times a year do they?

I was notified by email of an allocation for the 2012 vintage. The allocations are not single bottles but three-packs, and I was allowed six three packs altogether of four of their six syrahs. I opted for one Contender and two In The Rocks.

My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov

Diane (Long Island) wrote:Sounds like a wine I would enjoy. How long were you on the waiting list?

Not very long. But I signed up before all the big scores came out, in August and immediately after opening a bottle of the same 09 In The Rocks I go on about here for out of state visitors who were immediately as bewitched as I've been and begged me to find them some bottles. Only a few months before some wine had been available at the winery, but by August they went Allocation. By which time I also knew from my ITB friend that where three years ago he had all the wines to distribute, last year they only got a few cases of The Unnamed and this year expected to get nothing. Pretty quick considering that 08 was their first commercial vintage, but not surprising considering the exceptional quality.

My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov